Answer 2021
by abocada
Summary: Lynn McKinnon suddenly finds herself 45 years in the future. How will she deal with the fact, that everybody she knows is dead? And can she return to her time and prevent the death of her loved ones? Rated M for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

This is a fanfiction, taking liberal use of the Harry Potter world. Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, who I have to thank for writing this. Not that we know each other. That would be pretty cool, though.

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**Chapter 1**

"Who's that?"  
"I don't know."  
"Is she alright?"  
"Hey, wake up!"  
She groaned as the noise reached her hand and she tried to pull her blanket over her head - when she noticed she wasn't lying in her bed.

"Goddammit, James! If I-", she bolted upright, angrily throwing her eyes open and glared at the crowd in front of her, frantically looking for James Potter. Finally spotting him, she jumped to her feet, pulled her wand from her pocket and aimed it at him, with an angry twinkle in her eyes. "James Doe Potter! Write your will, because I'm gonna a kill you!", yelling at him like a mad-woman, she quickly fired a jinx at his feet and he only barely jumped to the side. "What the heck!?"  
But she didn't let him take a breath and shot another on at him - only barely missing his head. "What? Afraid, [i]Potter[/i]? Because you better be!", she hissed and aimed at his feet again - but this time he didn't react in time and he soon started dancing like a drunk Irishman. "Hahah! Don't worry, I'm not done with you yet!", she howled at him and looked at the crowd, watching their reactions amused.  
"Who's that!?" - "Another one of James's girls?" - "I've never seen her!" Such and similar whispers went around the crowd and the dancing boy finally managed to take the jinx off of him and glared at the strange woman. "What the hell is your problem? Who are you?", he hissed between gritted teeth and she only laughed in response and crossed her arms.  
"Playing dumb now, Potter? Oh, well, guess it doesn't take much acting skill!", she laughed out loudly, trying to ignore the weird feeling that gnawed at the back at her mind. Something seemed.. odd. But she could deal with that later. First she had to pay back that git James!  
"Well, if there's nothing more to lose, guess I'll just continue!", she grinned and send another hex in his direction, which he skilfully avoided and - finally - took out his own wand, while glaring at her, clearly not amused.  
"I ask you one more time - what the hell is your problem?"  
She snorted and pointed at their crowd. "Look who's talking! It's your fault that-", but before she could continue she heard a familiar voice from behind the crowd yelling. "James! What's going on?" The boy shook his head. "Beats me."  
"Sirius!", she yelled, jumping up to spot the familiar black head between the other students. "You really need to have a word with that stupid git! I know I said I was fine with-", but she abruptly stopped as the black haired boy made his way through the crowd and stood next to a confused James.  
"...what?", dazed, she looked at the two boys who both looked like James.  
"Ah!", realization dawned on her face and she laughed. "Seriously? Polyjuice potion? What the heck are you two stupid gits planning? I'll warn you, Sirius, I definitely won't kiss you looking like James!", she grinned and came closer to the two boys and inspected them more closely.  
They and the other students looked like her in confusion and her own face darkened with bewilderment. "Wait...", she mumbled, trying to make sense of this. These boys certainly looked a lot like James - but not exactly like him. She would know, since she had spent most of her school years with that boy. "Huh, you guys must have really messed up that potion", she joked half-heartedly as the uneasy feeling in her head only grew.  
"Look, I don't know who you are, but somehow you got it all wrong." The other boy nodded and only then she noticed that he did look a bit younger. "Yeah, I'm Albus."  
She laughed out. "Albus? Seriously? Like Dumbledore?"  
The boys nodded in unison. "Yeah, of course?"  
She blinked at them confused and took a step back and let her gaze strife the crowd. No face seemed even remotely similar. Something was wrong.  
"Okay, fine, you two had you fun, that's enough now", she grumbled and furrowed her brows. "Is this another of your stupid hexes? Making everybody look different? Very clever, but not clever enough", she added and tried to grin smugly. It didn't quite work.  
"What's going on in here? Potter, what did you do this time?", a female voice butt in between them and the girl turned around, smiling relieved. "McGonagall! Those two probably stole a-", she closed her mouth as she saw her favourite teacher looking... about a 100 years old.  
The older McGonagall came closer and inspected the girl from top to bottom. "And who are you?"  
The girl shook her head in disbelief and looked back at James and... whoever, urging them with her eyes to stop with this stupid joke.  
"Professor McGonagall, I'm sorry, I think those two put a weird hex on me, everything looks so... strange", she shrugged her shoulders helplessly, having no suitable explanation.  
"Your name and house, young girl.", the older woman simply asked and she smiled at that, having always liked her no nonsense attitude. "Lynn McKinnon, Gryffindor, obviously", she sighed, thinking that maybe the two did something to her as well. "...McKinnon?", the older woman cocked her eyebrow curiously, but then looking at the curious crowd in annoyance. "There is nothing to see, go back to your dorms, this instant!" Most complained about that, but left nonetheless and soon she was alone with the Professor and her two best friends, who played a rather tiring joke.  
"Well, Miss McKinnon, this is a very interesting story, but as the head of the house I know all Gryffindor students and you are not one of them."  
The sighed in response. "Okay, guys, seriously? What did you do? This is kinda stupid, I really don't have the time for this."  
She turned around and glared at the younger one angrily. "And I really would have thought better of you, Sirius." The boy frowned and looked at his brother and then back to the Professor. He certainly didn't understand why that girl called him by his brother's middle name. "Miss McKinnon, if you would follow me. Mister Potter and..", she sighed, obviously being used to this, "And Mister Potter, go back to your common room." Lynn looked at the two boys who, rather obediently, turned around. "Don't tell me he actually changed his last name!" The woman didn't answer, but simply continued walking down the halls towards the headmaster's office.

Once inside, things made even less sense. Instead of Dumbledore greeting them, it was a man Lynn had never seen in her life before.  
"Ah, Minerva, who do we got here?", the asked curious and offered them a seat. "Sir, I saw this girl just now in front of the Great Hall, arguing with James and Albus Potter."  
The man smiled at Minerva, waiting for her to go on.  
"And...", the woman hesitated and Lynn could see how her eyes darted up to the portraits of previous headmasters for a second. "She says her name is Lynn McKinnon."  
The man sitting in the headmaster's seat, still smiled at her, waiting for the problem. The woman sighed and removed her glasses. "Lynn McKinnon was a very bright student."  
Was? ...was!?  
"And she was the sister of Marlene McKinnon."  
The man's face lit up and he smiled. "Ah. I see. Thank you Minreva, you can go now." The woman simply nodded and quickly left the girl alone with the strange man. "Uhm..", Lynn squirmed in her seat uncomfortably, not trying to make eye-contact. "Okay, this is kinda weird, but, who are you?" The man smiled at her, too, and she was starting to think that all he could do was smile. "I'm the current headmaster of Hogwarts, John Smith."  
"But..", she finally looked at him. "Dumbledore is the headmaster!"  
"I'm afraid that's not quite true," a voice chuckled behind her and Lynn could feel her body relax in instant relief. "Dumbledore! What is going.. on...", she turned around and stared at the portrait of Albus Dumbledore.  
"Lynn McKinnon? How precarious", another voice injected, sounding almost bored. She turned around and saw the face of... "Oh Merlin... Snivelly!?" The man emitted a strange sound, that seemed to a mix of disgust and shock. "The name is Severus Snape, previous headmaster of Hogwarts, Miss... McKinnon", he said and leered at her.  
"H-headmaster!? Ahahaha, oh my god, Snivelly is... was... oh god..", the girl burst out laughing and had to hang on to the chair as not to fall down and it took her several minutes to calm down. "Oh, god, I really have to hand it to them, this is definitely the best prank ever!", she grinned and turned back to the "headmaster", wanting to hear the rest of it. "So, is there anything else? Did Voldemort become a monk? Did the Ministry abolish the auror department in favour of petting zoos? Come on, give me more!", she grinned and eagerly leaned forward.  
"Miss McKinnon, I am afraid that this is not a joke. We have the year 2021. Voldemort is long dead, as are...", he looked up to the the portraits and smiled. "..the former headmasters Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape."  
She snorted and shook her head. "Yeah, right, that's why I just saw James Potter out there."  
"Oh, there is certainly no doubt about that. James Sirius Potter is indeed a student of Hogwarts." She laughed out. "James Sirius? Are they so much in love that he changed his middle name?"  
"James Sirius Potter is the son of Harry Potter and the grandson of James Potter and Lily Evans."  
"W-what?" She let out a laugh. "You're trying to tell me that James and Lily had a child? Please!" The headmaster shook his head. "I'm afraid it's the truth."  
"I am Lily's best friend! I know her and she would have NEVER gone out with James!", she shrieked and jumped up, not registering the humourless laugh behind her. "Miss McKinnon, I have no reason to lie to you. It is the year 2021 and if I'm not mistaken, you somehow managed to travel 45 years in the future."  
She slowly sat back down again, trying to make sense of this. Finally, her face lit up again and she smiled at him, smugly. "Alright, if that's the truth, then please let me meet James, Lily and Sirius! I would give you a lot of money to see them old!", she laughed, just trying to picture them balding or with wrinkles.  
But it got suddenly very quiet in the room and she felt dread gnaw at her stomach.  
"...Professor?", she whispered as she turned back to her old headmaster, pleading him with eyes to tell her... not the truth, but what she wanted to hear.  
"Miss McKinnon... if I remember correctly, you suddenly vanished at the beginning of your 6th year without a trace."  
She stared at him with big eyes. "Professor...?"  
He looked at her with kind, sad eyes. "They are dead."

She didn't know how or when, but when she opened her eyes, she saw the familiar hangings of her bed in her dorm. Or rather, a bed that looked pretty much the same.  
She turned on her side and slowly opened the curtain a bit, to see if any of her new... dorm mates were up yet. It was quiet and their curtains were still closed. She sighed. "James, Lily and Sirius are dead?", she whispered, trying to wrap her mind around it. But no matter how hard she tried, it didn't work.  
They weren't dead. How could they? She just saw them. She left Lily in the library, working on some homework, saw her sister in the hall talking to Remus and found James in front of the Great Hall, where the two of them got into a heated argument over something silly and started hexing each other. He had hit her pretty hard, since Sirius coming had distracted her for a moment. And that was when her memories ended and she thought she woke up shortly after that.  
But... 45 years in the future? As if!  
It was probably just all an elaborate hoax. A hex gone wrong, or maybe even just a really dumb dream. James Sirius Potter, pah! Who would name their kid that? And Snivelly as the headmaster! Yeah, sure! She grinned to herself and thought back to the portrait of their old friend. She certainly couldn't imagine him looking any different than that. So he must be the product of her imagination.  
But... James and Lily having a child? She shuddered at the consequences. Hell would freeze over rather than that happening!  
Although... she thought back to the "Potter" boys she saw earlier. The one she thought was Sirius did have... green eyes.  
She sighed and pulled her blanket over her head. Nope, just a dream!

...because if it wasn't...

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**Author's Note:** My second fanfiction! Or, rather, second first, because I started this at the same time as The Life of a Squib. As you can see, same pairing, though, of course, Lynn McKinnon's background will be a bit different. Or will it? Just treat it as an.. alternative reality. Also, this will probably be lighter than TLOAS. Sirius Black is one of the characters, but I think he'll only pretty much appear a bit in flashbacks or at the very end, this will be mainly about Lynn interacting with the Next Generation kids and trying to sort out this mess and not letting her friends die, somehow.

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Do you think we should wake her?", a voice asked quietly.  
"I don't know, she got here pretty late... maybe we should let her sleep.", another voice answered equally quiet.  
"But breakfast is soon over, won't she be hungry?"  
"We don't even know if she's gonna start classes today!"  
"Well, if she's here then she obviously will, or she would be in the Hospital Wing, Claire", a snotty voice replied and stepped forward, shaking the unmoving body of the girl in the bed.  
"For Merlin's sake, we don't need to be half an hour early, Lily...", the girl groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.  
"Ahem", the snotty voice cleared her throat, rising her voice. "If you don't wake up right now, you won't be able to eat breakfast AND you will be late for class." But, unsurprisingly, this threat left the girl cold. "Oh come on! I don't want to get in trouble because you're a lazy ass! Get up! Get up!", she almost growled, shaking the girl faster and faster.  
"Ugh, I get it, sod off!", the sleeping girl yelled under her pillow. "I told you that you should not wake me up 10 minutes before-", the girl suddenly jerked up, glaring at the culprit angrily, when all her anger seemed to dissipate and she shrunk in herself. "Oh... hi?", she asked, looking at the three girls in her in confusion.  
"Finally! Can we go now? I'm starving", a small, sneering girl said, tapping her foot impatiently. "Oh, shut it. Not like you're gonna die", the girl with the snotty voice and tallest of the three answered, rolling her eyes. "[i]You[/i] are the one who tells me to eat a bloody sandwich all the time!", she cried indignantly, throwing her short, black hair back. "Then go and eat a bloody sandwich if you can't wait a bloody second more!", the tall blonde girl yelled back, fed up with her dorm mate, who complied and quickly left the room in a huff.  
"So", she turned back to Lynn, a pleasant smile on her face. "You are Lynn, right? McGonagall told me to take care of you, to.. uh...show you around?", she looked back at the other girl in the dorm, who so far has stood at the side, watching them quietly. She only shrugged.  
"Uhh.. thanks, but there's no need", Lynn replied and stood up, trying to take her surrounding in.  
The dorm looked just like she could remember it. Except for the few clothes and personal belongings laying around, but-  
"Ah!", she suddenly yelled, startling the two girls and ran towards the bed beside the window. "That's my bed! Who is using my bed!?", she asked, dropping to her knees and inspecting one of the legs. "Uhm, no, that's my bed. As you can see by the stuff on it", the quiet girl replied, motioning to the heap of clothes laying on and next to it.  
"Oh, no, look at this!", Lynn said, gesturing to a carving on the leg, beaming with pride. The snotty and quiet girl came closer, scrunching their faces while trying to identify the degree of vandalism.  
"See? It says LMK + SB! That's me, Lynn McKinnon and Sirius Black! And.. uh.. there is a cross over it, but that's because that stupid git made me bloody mad when he poured a bucket of troll snot all over me and I tried to cross out his name.. I know, I know, it's stupid, but we all were young at some point, right?"  
"Uhhh... Sirius Black?", the owner of the bed asked in obvious confusion. But before Lynn could answer, the snotty girl whispered something into quiet girl's ear, netting an "Ohhh!" from her. "I see. Alright, that explains a lot." She nodded thoughtfully and then bend to pick up her bag. "Well, I'm going ahead, I'm getting hungry." With those words, she left the two alone.  
"What explains a lot?", Lynn asked, eyeing the blonde girl suspiciously. "Nothing", she smiled in answer. "Oh, sorry, I should introduce myself. I'm Matilda Henry. The short girl was Claire Bell and the one that just left is Rose Weasley."  
Lynn nodded and shrugged at the same time. "Okay, great. But what am I doing here? The last thing I remember is...", she frowned, while trying to recollect her last memory. "...oh", she said in a small voice, her face darkening.  
"Well, McGonagall didn't really tell me anything, apart that you are supposed to meet the Headmaster after class and that I should take care of you. Said something about you being.. uhm..."  
"Me being what?", Lynn crossed her arms and raised her brow, eyeing Matilda suspiciously. "...a bit sick", Matilda nodded, trying to convince herself. "Right. She told you I'm crazy, didn't she?" Matilda just shrugged. "You wouldn't be the only one here. But let's go eat before classes start, I'm starving."

It was eerie how things just never seemed to change at Hogwarts. Sure, she didn't know anybody that she saw, but since they all looked vaguely human, it was pretty much the same thing. And everything else was identical. Every portrait, every statue, every hall, every wall, every... teacher. "Hagrid!", she gasped, spotting the enormous figure of the gamekeeper in the Entrance Hall, about to leave the castle. He stopped and turned around, trying to see who called him.  
"Oh my god, Hagrid, you look so bloody old!", she yelled while running towards him and he stared at her, as if he'd seen a ghost. Well, no, rather, as if he'd seen somebody killing a dragon, since seeing a ghost wasn't anything out of the ordinary.  
"...Lynn?", he simply said, staring at her with wide eyes. "By Merlin, what happened to you? Really, did you try to play with the Kraken again? I thought I told you that nothing good would come out of it, it's much smarter than you think it-", before she could finish her lecture, she got swooped up by big, strong arms into a bone-crushing hug. "Ugh! Hagrid! Air! Air! Aiiir!", she yelped, trying to struggle free, while ignoring that everybody in the hall was staring at their display.  
"Lynn! 'S horrible! Yeh just v-v-vanished!", he finally let her go - almost dropped her, even - pulling out a dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose, while sobbing uncontrollably. "Searched for yer for months, the castle, the grounds, the forest! We asked everyone and everything but yeh just vanished! Just gone! Thought You-Know-Who got yer, killed yer, it was horrible, horrible..", he muttered to himself, wiping his face with the handkerchief.  
"It.. it's okay, Hagrid...", the girl responded, feeling her throat constrict. This was... real? She really vanished? Just like that? Only to appear 45 years later? She felt a deep chill go down her spine, burying her hands in her robe pockets. They looked for her... and they.. never saw her again? Lynn closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to think of her friends, of how they must felt, trying not to recall those stormy grey eyes, filled to the brim with pain... no. No! She opened her eyes again and gritted her teeth. "It's alright Hagrid, I'm alive, look? I'm fine. Everything's fine", she smiled, trying to assure the giant, as a crowd gathered around them. "This is just a bit of a.. unique situation that I have to deal with. Alright?"  
"What is going? What are you standing here for? Classes are about to start!", a familiar voice called out, making its way to them.  
"Ah, Miss McKinnon. Shouldn't you be in class? Hagrid, quit this nonsense. In front of all the students, really!", McGonagall scolded them like two children. "Oh, err, sorry, I just... I saw him and.. well..", Lynn mumbled in reply, feeling embarrassed.  
"Miss McKinnon, I thought we were clear in our orders. Now, Hagrid, go to your class, Miss McKinnon, follow me." At the words of the Professor, the crowd dispersed, heading to their classes, while muttering something that sounded like "nutjob".  
They watched Hagrid leave the castle, his big figure still shaking with sobs, until McGonagall turned around and walked upstairs. "Miss McKinnon, I know that this is a very distressing and perplexing time for you, but it is imperative that you do not draw attention to yourself - or mention anything about your past. If the Ministry hears about this, I can't imagine what will happen...", she tutted, while Lynn followed her silently, not noticing Matilda trailing just behind them.  
"Well, your first class is Transformation, I assume you are carrying your wand?", she asked. Lynn nodded, while Matilda caught up to them, handing Lynn a sandwich, which she quickly propped into her mouth, before the professor could object.

"So... that's James Potter?", Lynn whispered to Matilda, who had the grace to sit next to her in class. The blonde girl shook her head, while taking notes from the board. "No, that's Albus. He's in Slytherin."  
"SLYTHERIN!?", she cried, jumping up in shock. "You can NOT tell me that a Pottter is in Slytherin!? James would dig up his grave and beat up that little punk for this disgrace!", she yelled, while successfully ignoring all the eyes burning into her head.  
"Miss McKinnon. I am appalled that I have to deduct 10 points for Gryffindor and give you detention in your very first class", a frosty voice said, shaming the girl back into her seat.  
Lynn quickly glanced ahead, seeing Albus Potter staring at her like she was a maniac. "But.. how can he be in Slytherin!? Is his mother a Slytherin? What is going on? If James knew this, gosh...", she whispered to an annoyed looking Matilda. "James [i]knows[/i], how could he not? And now be quiet, or else we're gonna lose more points."  
Thankfully, the lesson proved to be something she already learned and successfully transformed her chair into a cute little, black puppy. Which, of course, soured her mood greatly, remembering the first time she had the exact same class.

_"Aw, a black puppy! Isn't he cute? Yes, you are cute, aren't you?", Sirius cooed, picking the puppy up, which promptly started licking his face, making him laugh. "I get it, Black, you and your damn dogs, very nice, now give me back my chair", Lynn sighed exasperatedly. "What?! No! You can't kill him! He's our friend! How could you even think that!? What a cruel and heartless woman you are, playing with my feelings!", Sirius yelled indignantly, turning the puppy away from her, as if shielding it. "And how exactly am I playing with your feelings, Black?", she asked, sounding as posh as possible. "Well, we all know what it means when a girl transforms her chair into a black puppy", he answered, wagging his eyebrows suggestively. "Right, now sod off, or I'm going to turn you into a chair!", she huffed. "Ohh, that's what you like? Why didn't you say so? We could have talked about it, you know, I'm open for a lot of things-" _  
_"Sirius Orion Black! Give me the puppy right now or am I'm going to cut your bloody hair in your sleep!", she yelled, raising her voice. "My hair!? You wouldn't!", he said. "Take him, but make it quick, woman, for you have broken my heart!", he turned away and sobbed theatrically, not seeing her smile as she transformed the puppy back into her a chair. "You're such a drama queen, Black", she said, grinning, as he turned around and lazily put an arm around her shoulders. "And you like it", he whispered into her ear, making her shudder._

"..aren't you gonna turn him back?"  
"Huh?", Lynn blinked, suddenly aware that class was already over and Matilda was waiting for her, while the puppy was running around like on a sugar high. "Oh.. yeah...", she sighed, flicked her wand and her chair returned to normal. She already missed that stupid puppy.  
"Right.. what's next?"  
"Care for Magical Creatures. With the Slytherins again, so if you could not make a scene next time, that would be swell", she replied ironically, while heading outside.  
Lynn sighed, while watching the other girl walk out, with a hand on her chair.  
"Is this really...", she whispered, before she shook her head and followed Matilda outside.

* * *

**Author's Note:** A scene with Sirius Black! There are probably gonna be a few of those, I think. And yes, Lynn seems extremely carefree so far, especially since she has no qualms talking about her old life. That's gonna change.. yeah. I hope that I managed to not mess up Hagrid's speech so far!

Next chapter there is finally going to be some interaction with the Next Generation kids.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Hagrid, you are our teacher!?", Lynn yelled, as soon as she saw the half giant standing in front of her classmates. "Ah, yes, Dumbledore made me a teacher back then, brilliant man, just brilliant..", he muttered while pulling a handkerchief out of one of his pockets, quickly wiping his face. "Ah, yes, today I have something fun for yeh! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"  
As soon as Lynn and Matilda joined the other students, Hagrid started walking around the hut, towards a fenced off piece of land, where there were already a couple of creatures waiting for them, excitedly running up and down... barking.  
"Oh for Merlin's sake!", Lynn cursed as she recognized the creatures. "What?", Matilda asked. "Dogs! Bloody dogs! It's like the universe is playing some huge, cruel joke on me", she muttered, angrily kicking at the grass.  
"Now, yeh probably now what those are, not exactly 6th year stuff, but I got them from a friend, showed them to the lower years, thought would be nice...", Hagrid started, when they arrived at the pen, causing the creatures to jump up and down like mad.  
"Those are crups, magical dogs, that eat everything. Very good for getting rid off things if yeh can't use a vanishing spell, or something..", Hagrid explained. "One crup for two people, yeh can pick up something to eat fer them here", he pointed at the big case at his feet, that was filled with a collection of odd and broken things; tyres, kettles, broken brooms and even radios.  
"Matilda? You're not mad if we don't partner up?", Lynn asked, as she watched Hagrid carefully open the pen, so that the dogs wouldn't run around, wreaking havoc.  
"What? No, but-", she interjected, but before she could finish, Lynn was already gone, running towards a specific black-haired boy.  
"Hi! Albus, right? Mind if we partner up? No, that's great! Very nice of you, really, I'm so touched at your helpfulness, you know, it's so hard to get accustomed to everything here, since I'm.. uh.. new and everything, so really, very swell of you!", she babbled, as she grabbed Albus' arm and dragged him towards Hagrid to pick up their crup, before he could object.  
"Say, do you like dogs? I bet you do, with your uncle and all, how can you not like dogs? I can't really say that I like them very much, but, you know, you kinda get used to these bloody things hanging onto you and following you everywhere you go and making stupid puppy eyes at you, you know?", she kept on talking, while she dragged both boy and dog away from the crowd.  
"Ok, ok, ok! Let go off me! Jeez. What's your problem?", Albus yelled, when he managed to break free of her grip, glaring at her. "Me? I have no problem. Perfectly problemless even", she smiled at him innocently, ignoring the dog running around the two of them, trying to get their attention.  
He just glared at her and shook her head. "Alright, whatever. I don't know what your deal is, but it would be great if you could just stop paying attention to me", he muttered, hinting at the little scene in transformations earlier.  
"Well excuse me! I just couldn't quite believe that a Potter - named after the greatest Gryffindor there is, too! - would be in Slytherin of all places!", she replied, crossing her arms and glaring at him provocatively.  
He rolled his eyes. "Really now? What year are you from? House rivalry is your problem? Seriously, I think the wizarding world has bigger problems than dumb stereotypes. And, I was named after the greatest Slytherin as well." He, too, crossed his arms, though he didn't bother glaring, or even looking at her. This was way over him.  
"Who the heck is that supposed to be?" He sighed. "Severus Snape, of course."  
She looked at him and blinked. "Excuse me? It sounded like you just said Snivelly was.. was...", she shuddered, clapping her hand on her mouth, of fear of throwing up.  
"Snivelly?", he finally turned around, eyeing her suspiciously. "Yeah, good ol' Snivelly, he...", she started, grinning when thinking back on fun memories: Hexing Snivelly in the hall, hexing Snivelly in the courtyard, hexing Snivelly in the classroom, hexing Snivelly on the grounds, even hexing him in a bathroom! "Ah!", she yelled, her eyes wide. "I mean... I mean... that was his nickname, wasn't it? I heard something like that from somebody... my aunt, I think. Yeahh", she mumbled, feeling her face getting hot while trying to think of the least ridiculous sounding excuse.  
"Right", Albus simply said, crouching on the ground to pet the crup, who had started whining in his distress.  
"Soooo... uh... can I ask you something weird?"  
He looked up at her, frowning. "I can't imagine it getting any weirder."  
She rolled her eyes, but could feel the corners of her mouth twitching. "Can you tell me about Sirius Black?", she asked quietly, focusing on a dirty spot of grass. He stood up again, studying her face. "Well, he was my father's godfather, helped in the fight against Voldemort and, ah, he escaped from Azkaban."  
"WHAT!?", she cried out. "Uhh...?", he took a step back, surprised by her outburst.  
"S-Sirius Black in Azkaban!?", she cried out, laughing hysterically. "Wh-what did he do?! Did he get convicted on terms of being a huge bloody git? Was he caught after putting an invisibility charm on all the female students clothes? Or did he pee on some ministry worker's leg?", she snorted falling to the ground and grabbing their black crup, madly scratching his belly while imagining all the possibly reasons somebody could put Sirius Bloody Black into Azkaban.  
"Err... he was accused of killing twelve muggles, Peter Pettigrew and betraying James Potter and Lily Evans to Voldemort", Albus answered, shrugging, wondering why exactly this weird girl was making such a deal out of this.  
Lynn, on the other hand, felt as if a dementor just flew by and blew her a kiss, while a ghost held her down, forcing her to wach somebody kill a puppy.  
"...he... he... but... he... what?", she asked, her words barely audibly.  
"Ah, looks like the lesson's over. Come on, crup", Albus said, tugging on the leash of the little dog, dragging him away to Hagrid, leaving the girl behind.  
"Sirius Black is... a murderer?", she said, talking to herself, blinking furiously.  
She could feel her blood rush in her ears and didn't notice, as everybody left.  
"Sirius...", she slowly stood up, absent-mindedly dusting off the dirt from her robes. "...Orion...", she slowly pulled her wand out of her pocket, gripping it tightly, digging her nails into her palm. "...BLOODY BLACK! I'LL KILL YOU! I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!", she yelled at the top of her lungs into the sky.  
"That's nice. Can we go and eat lunch now?", a voice asked from behind, sighing impatiently.  
"Huh?", Lynn turned around, looking into the bored face of Matilda.  
"That's your reaction?", Lynn asked, raising her eyebrows. "Well, I'm kinda hungry, since we didn't really have any time to eat breakfast because you had to bond with Hagrid, and Merlin knows what that was all about", Matilda replied, shrugging. "Also, Sirius Black is already dead, sooo...?", she asked, looking at Lynn curiously.  
"Oh.. yeah... I meant... I mean, I was just... saying hypothetically, you know? If I had the chance to go back to the future, then I totally would kill him."  
"Uh-huh", Matilda said, turning around, heading towards the castle. "Have fun with that."

"...and then I told him, no, you bloody jerk, you will not wear my clothes to Hogsmeade to make everyone thing we're lesbians. Seriously, can you believe him?", Claire complained, as she punctured a steak with her knife.  
"I can't believe that you're still going out with him", Matilda replied dryly, while taking a sip from her pumpkin juice. "What? Why wouldn't I?" Matilda sighed. "Because he has an obsession for female clothing?"  
"He has not!", Claire replied indignantly. "Oh, he so does. He's also wearing make-up", Matilda said.  
"I always wondered why his skin looked so good... thought it was a charm..", Claire mumbled, before catching herself. "No! Lies! Don't lie to me, Mattie! You are just jealous that you don't have a boyfriend, admit it!", Claire huffed, violently mashing her peas.  
"Right, I'm so sad and lonely, because all the single guys at Hogwarts are so mature, clever and funny", Matilda rolled her eyes.  
"Or they are family", a voice across the table muttered darkly.  
"Blame the war, Rose", Matilda grinned, as she looked at the redhead.  
"The war? Which war?", Lynn asked, craning her neck to look at the Slytherin table. "What?", Rose asked, looking at Matilda in confusion, who just shrugged. "You know, the one where Voldemort finally said bye bye?", she finally answered. "Ohh, yeah, that one. Of course. Ah, right, how did that happen again? I mean, the whole Voldemort killing thing. It was... Dumbledore, right?"  
It was as if as soon as Lynn opened her mouth, she could all the stares of the people around her drilling holes into her head.  
"Uhm... Lynn, Dumbledore died before Voldemort did. You remember, right?", Matilda asked, keeping her voice down. "Yeah, of course, of course, I just... no, silly me! I knew that", Lynn mumbled, feeling her ears turning hot. "Oh, right, why, do you have such a big family, Rose?" The other girl rolled her yes. "Yeah? It's like half of the bloody student body is related to me somehow. It's the fault of my grandparents, why the heck did they had to have so many children? Seriously, take a red haired kid and you can bet it's a Weasley", she muttered, attacking her cauliflower.  
"And don't forget the holy unity of the Weasley and Potter houses", Claire laughed, while playing with a bread roll like a five-year old.  
"You're related to the Potters?" Rose grimaced. "My aunt married the oh so famous Harry Potter", she said. "Not like your parents are any less famous", Claire rolled her eyes. "Shut it, Goldilocks." Annoyed, Claire ripped a piece from her roll, throwing it at Rose. "That was ONE time in first year, you'd think everybody would forget about it", Claire fumed.  
"Sooo... Harry Potter is the sun of James Potter, right? Why was he famous again?", Lynn asked carefully, trying to speak as quietly as possible.  
But again, it seemed that even the people back at the Slytherin table heard her, judging by how quiet it suddenly got. For that exact reason, Lynn didn't dare to lift her head and look at the people around. It was not exactly her fault that she travelled 45 years in the future, was it? They had no right to judge her knowledge of the future!  
"Miss McKinnon, please follow me."  
Startled, the girl jumped up, looking at the face of a sour looking McGonagall. "Did I do something, Professor?", she asked, while quickly following the fast strides of the old witch. "No, it is not your fault that the headmaster didn't see fit to educate you", she replied, her mouth forming a thin line, which meant that he was about to be in a lot of trouble.  
After they reached the headmaster's office, McGonagall stopped, throwing a weary look at the student in front of her. "They are waiting for you", she simply said, before turning around and hurrying away.  
"They..?", Lynn asked, shrugged and quickly climbed the stairs.

"...well, yes, I think we need to discuss which measure to take in this very unique situation. The obvious choice would be to tell her everything we know and something to get her to.. Ah, Miss McKinnon, please come in!", headmaster John Smith said, as he spotted the girl standing at the door.  
"May I introduce you to Harry Potter? Harry, this is her, Lynn McKinnon, graduate.. well, would be graduate of class 1978", he said, motioning her to sit down next to a man, who looked a lot like James Potter from an alternate universe, where he changed pranks and jokes for sleepless nights and office worker apparel. Sitting next to him was a stunningly beautiful red haired woman and for a moment, Lynn's heart skipped a beat, seeing her friends instead of total strangers.  
"Nice to meet you, Lynn", Harry said, shaking her hand, while she looked at him slightly dazed. "And this is my wife, Ginny Weasley", he motioned to the woman beside him, who smiled at her. "Hello Lynn."  
"Now, as you may now, Harry Potter was the very reason that the world is finally rid of Voldemort, freeing us from his reign of terror and acts of murder. You, Lynn, are, as I understand-"  
"Uhm, excuse me", Lynn interjected, frowning. "But nobody told me anything about, well, anything. I have no bloody idea who Harry Potter is and what he did to whoever and honestly, the only thing I care about right now is hearing that Sirius Black got his punishment and rotted to death in Azkaban", she said bitterly, crossing her arms.  
The three adults looked at each other astounded.  
"Miss McKinnon, we talked about this yesterday in my office-"  
"No, we did not! You didn't say bloody anything and just send me to bed after I learned that all of my friends are dead and that it's the fault of Sirius Black, so, I hope you can understand my distress", she practically hissed.  
"Uhm, Lynn, I think you misunderstand something-", Ginny tried to explain, but only got cut off by the fuming teen.  
"And no, I don't care that this happened a hundred years ago, it didn't happen when I was at school, so excuse me for being a tad emotional!", she glared at the adults, daring them to try and calm her down.  
"I can see that you were a good friend of my parents", Harry said, smiling at her. "Sirius didn't kill them - he was framed by Peter Pettigrew, who was a Death Eater. He escaped Azkaban after 10 years and was later proclaimed innocent."  
She gaped at him. "Peter? Are we seriously-", she stopped, grinned at herself and put on her shocked face again, "talking about the same person? Shy little Peter? A Death Eater? I'm sorry, even if you are Lily's son, you are bloody mad!"  
Harry shook his head, smiling sadly. "My parents went into hiding from Voldemort. Dumbledore suggested putting the Fidelius charm on their hideout. They planned to make Sirius the Secret Keeper, but he chose Peter instead, thinking that nobody would suspect him, which turned out to be a mistake."  
She just sat there, staring at him in shock.  
"Peter... Peter really...", she looked down, gripping her robe, digging her nails into her thighs. "He is their - our friend. We love him. Why did he do that!?", she whispered, tightly pressing her eyelids together, for fear of crying.  
"...sometimes, people are so blinded by their own insecurities, that they cannot see the love surrounding them", a soothing voice replied from behind her.  
"But they would have done anything for him! Anything! He just needed to ask!", she cried out, jumping up and facing the portrait of her headmaster.  
Dumbledore looked at her, smiling sadly. "But he didn't think to ask. He didn't know he could."  
"...but isn't that what friendship is about?", she asked weakly, slowly sitting back down.  
"Maybe... maybe you can help."  
She looked up at Harry, who smiled at her encouragingly. "Yes, maybe you can help him realize that his friends care about him", Ginny added.  
But Lynn frowned. "How exactly could I treat him as a friend, now that I know what he did - or is going to do? Maybe it's too late", she said, stubbornly.  
"Then what do you think is the alternative? Smothering him with a pillow in his sleep?", Harry asked her quietly.  
She looked down at her shoes, squirming in her seat. "Well, no, but... I don't really know..."  
"Well, I think we can solve this issue later. Since we do not know how Miss McKinnon ended up here in the future, it is to be considered that she could return to her time without a warning - so we should concentrate on explaining her, how exactly Voldemort was defeated", the headmaster interjected, which in turn caused Harry to frown.  
"Well, yes, but that's not exactly an easy thing. Even if we tell her where to find the horcruxes - how many exist in the 70s in the first place? How will she find and destroy them? How will the deal with Voldemort after they get rid of the horcruxes? I think there is no other way than to tell Dumbledore - but then we have to think of the consequences of manipulating the past, which, if I remember correctly-", at this he threw a sneaky glance at Dumbledore's portrait, almost winking at him, "..would mean that the present would already be changed. But since nothing has changed, does that mean our plan wasn't successful, or...?" At this he looked at Lynn and she suddenly realized with a shudder, that going home might not even be an option for her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Ah, yes, the famous time travel paradox. If it were possibly to travel back in time, wouldn't things already be different? There is also always the danger of messing things up, which is why it's generally advised not to change anything while in a different time, though that doesn't seem to be same case when you're in the future instead of the past. Also, as we've seen: Harry and Hermione saving Buckbeak was already a done deal, so any changes Lynn could make in the past would have already carried over into the future, wouldn't they?

Regarding the crup: Since I have no idea what the curriculum for COMC in 6th year looks like, I just picked a random beast from 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them'. Thought it was funny that the crup was essentially just a dog.

I'm also extremely sorry for calling the headmaster John Smith. I know, theoretically, McGonagall should have been headmistress, but since she in fact already retired in canon, I figured that she probably did so, but was so bored that she came back and decided to teach a bit more. I just like McGonagall, okay?


End file.
